Staten, Day share lead at weather-delayed LaSalle Bank Open  PGA TOUR Staff GLENVIEW, Ill. -- With matching 6-under 66s, Jason Day and B.J. Staten jumped out to the early lead at the weather- and darkness-delayed LaSalle Bank Open, which at $750,000 offers the highest full-field purse of the season on the Nationwide Tour. The Tour's 12th event of the season began under cloudy skies, and eventually gave way to afternoon thunderstorms at The Glen Club, a par-72 Tom Fazio-designed layout just north of Chicago. Play was suspended due to a dangerous situation at 3:40 p.m. CT and then resumed 80 minutes later. Eventually all but 11 players finished the opening round when play was called due to darkness at 8:30 p.m.  B.J. Staten shared the lead after some superb work around the greens. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
Day and Staten, playing in the same group, looked on top of their game and primed to make a run for the $135,000 first-place prize. Combined with the third professional in their group -- Dustin Bray (68) -- birdies were plentiful for the threesome. "Today was a lot of fun," said Staten, a 29-year-old native of Nashville, Tenn. "We were 15 under playing best ball. That is the way golf is supposed to be played." Staten couldn't have been any more impressive with the putter, draining birdie putts of at least 20 feet in length on the par-4 eighth hole (20 feet), the par-4 16th hole (25 feet), the par-3 ninth hole (30 feet) and the par-4 10th hole (40 feet). "It has been a long time since I've holed that many feet of putts," said Staten, who made a putter switch a little over two weeks ago at the PGA TOUR's AT&T Classic. "That hasn't happened too often for me this year. It was just one of those days." Staten and Day's rounds were nearly identical, with both hitting 14 of 18 greens in regulation. Day bested Staten in fairways hit (11 to 10) and putts (26 to 27), however. "We were feeding off of each other," said Day, who at 19 years of age is the Tour's youngest player. "I had eight birdies so I'm stoked. I'm putting it well, hitting it well and chipping it well." Both players could use a good week at one of the Tour's marquee events to jump into The 25, as Van Zyl sits in the 31st spot on the money list and Day in the 33rd position. It is a position many feel is destined for Day, who has won nearly every amateur championship in Australia and posted two top-15 finishes in just seven starts on the PGA TOUR in 2006. "I learned so much more playing those seven tournaments than I would have playing four years of amateur golf," said Day. "Playing the PGA TOUR taught me what I need to do to improve. I hit it long and straight, but last year taught me I need to work harder on my short game." Jaco Van Zyl, fresh off of last week's career-best runner-up finish at the Melwood Prince George's County Open, recorded a 5-under 67 and sits just one shot back along with Brad Elder, Greg Chalmers, Keoke Cotner and Kris Blanks (through 15 holes). First-Round News & Notes: The second round will begin at the regularly scheduled time of 7:00 a.m., while the players who failed to complete their opening round will be back in position at 7:30 a.m. ... In 11 tournaments in 2007, Martin Laird (Athens Regional Foundation Classic) is the only first-round leader who has gone on to win. The 18-hole leader in the five-year history of the LaSalle Bank Open has never ended up in the winner's circle. ... There were two bogey-free rounds on Thursday: Gary Hallberg (71) and Carlos Franco (72), with the latter doing so in unconventional fashion by posting 18 pars. Kris Blanks has a chance to join that group when he completes his final three holes Friday morning. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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